Two Alphas, One Luna

The War Path

Gracian

It’s not too often that I wonder if I’m being punished by the Gods. None of this was supposed to happen. Warrick wasn’t the man I thought I knew. It seemed not even his own daughter knew him. It made sense now why he chose to pair me with Priya. I thought he saw me as the best choice for her. It was clear now that I was simply another tool for him to use. Instead of sending Priya to the Golden Fang pack and potentially increasing their power, he saw fit to grow the power of the Red Eye pack. I’m not sure exactly when his affair started, but I had to assume it was when I had come of age. That was my 13th birthday. It was my first shift into my wolf form. Now, I was the Alpha. Before we could move forward as a pack, I needed to get Priya back. No matter the cost.

My injuries from taking wolfsbane laced silver bullets were still healing. The only reason I hadn’t gone to rescue Priya, is because I couldn’t shift and heal faster. It takes at least 2 weeks for our bodies to get rid of the wolfsbane. The silver could kill us if the slugs aren’t removed in time. If it wasn’t for Kahnna digging them out with her bare hands, I wouldn’t be alive now. We unfortunately lost about seven pack members that day. Priya’s mother and siblings were on the frontlines. Only her brothers and Alana remained. Fortunately her pups were spared. She went into labor that night and gave birth to them three weeks early. Some of the other clans lost people as well. They didn’t die in vain. We killed at least ten of Mercer’s people, and I intended on killing many more.

Today, the werwolf clans gathered together at our house. Two weeks and three days had past and I was to try and shift tonight. We needed a plan. The local authorities didn’t interfere with werewolf matters. It was a binding agreement when the public learned of our existence many years ago. So, we were on our own.

“I want to thank all of you for coming today. It’s been a dark couple of weeks for all of us. There have been many burials, and endless emotional turmoil. I would like to formally apologize on behalf of the former Alpha for the losses you’ve all suffered. Because of his transgressions, we find ourselves in such a tragic situation. We should consider our next actions carefully. Although the Red Eye pack wants to rescue our future Luna, we don’t ask for your assistance lightly.”

I took a second to look around at the pack leaders sitting around the living room. I could see the exhaustion in their eyes.

“I understand that Warrick’s actions don’t represent all of you. The only thing I want is to avenge the wrongful deaths of my pack members. If you would be willing to ensure that there won’t be any future dealings with the Golden Fang pack, I will gladly assist you in bringing Priya back.” The Alpha of the Emerald Shield pack spoke passionately.

I nodded. “Thank you for offering your assisstance, Victor. Does anyone else have any conditions for their cooperation? I completely understand if I’m asking too much. The Naulo Archipelago is a natural fortress. We stand to lose even more people trying to find Priya.”

The Alphas all exchanged glances before one of them stood up. I’d met him a few times at previous pack gatherings. Jean Allen of the Swift Soul clan.

“I can’t speak for the other Alphas here, but it’s my firm belief that blood should be paid with blood. Mercer must pay for his actions.” He said with conviction.

The others suddenly stood up, nodding in agreement. It was clear that they all wanted revenge as much as I did.

“Very well. Then we’ll need to discuss how we’ll get there and find out as much information as we can. This has to be planned out meticulously. There can’t be any room for error.” I said, getting up to stand with them.

A sharp, aching pain went through my left side. I rested my hands against the table, my teeth clenched. I was shot twice there, once in my upper right side. The pains would come and go and would be crippling at times.

“Gracian? Are you alright?” Victor asked concerned.

“I’m fine, it’ll pass. Let’s continue.”

I had to brush him off to save face, but this healing process has been excruciating.

We went on to discuss our transportation options and the best ways to scout out the islands. I’d never been there personally, but some of the other Alphas had. After a few hours, the meeting concluded. The only thing left to do now was put our plan in motion. And with some luck, I could finally bring Priya home.

Our room was the only place I could feel close to her now. Her scent was slowly fading from her belongings. Occasionally, I would spray her favorite perfume on her bathrobe. It felt like she was still here when I could smell her, if only for a moment.

“Gracian? Can I come in?”

Kahnna’s voice came from the doorway of the room. She held a small, clay medicine jar in her hand. I could smell the strong scent of Lavender & coconut oils. She had been massaging the oils onto my healing wounds when they closed. Until recently, I had no idea how effective Lavender oil was as a topical pain reliever.

“Come.” I said waving her in.

I turned around, my back facing her before I took my beige long sleeve shirt off. My hair was in a single, long braid laying over my left shoulder. heard her set the jar on the night stand before I felt her warm hands massaging the oil onto me. I closed my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much for doing this.”

“No problem. I’m happy I can I bring you some comfort. Had you not pushed yourself so much today, you wouldn’t be in so much pain.” She scolded.

“I’m shifting tonight, it won’t matter. This will be the last time that you have to do this. You saved my life, I’ll always be in your debt.”

Kahnna took her hands away from me briefly. Drips of oil fell onto my back before she slowly slid her hands down to my left side. The shooting pain was so much worse there. She leaned against me slightly and I felt the brush of her breasts on my back. My eyes opened, not expecting her to get so close. I started to say something but she spoke first.

“I didn’t do it expecting something in return. To be honest with you, I was hoping you would finally notice me…” she paused then. My eyebrows furrowed.

“Notice you?”

I felt her hands slid around me into a loose embrace, pressing more of herself against me. I was confused about where all of this was coming from.

“Yes. I have feelings for you Gracian.” She murmured.

Suddenly, I pulled her arms off of me and turned to face her. I let the disgust show plainly on my face. She looked scared now.

“Even if you have feelings for me, you of all people should keep them to yourself. I thought Priya was your friend!” I shouted at her.

Kahnna dropped to her knees in front of me, placing her hands on my knees. She lowered her head submissively, her sandy brown hair hiding her face.

“She is my friend! We’re like sisters! Still, I can’t help how I feel! Am I not allowed to at least tell you?!” She sounded as if she would cry. I was disappointed in her, truly.

“I love Priya. She’s going to be your Luna. There’s no one who would dare to be so bold. Why you Kahnna? Why now?!”

“We’re about to go into enemy territory and there’s no guarantee that we’ll be successful. If something happens to either of us, I would regret staying silent. It’s wrong, I know that it’s wrong. I’ve been trying to decide when I should tell you. Even before Warrick’s announcement.” She was in tears by the time she’d finished explaining herself.

I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“You claimed that you saved me and took care of me without expecting anything in return. How am I supposed to believe that now?”

Kahnna slowly raised her head.

“No, no I swear I didn’t want anything. I just wanted you to know how I felt. Please, please don’t be angry Alpha.” She pleaded.

“Your actions are not that of a friend Kahnna. What did you think would happen? Huh?”

“I don’t know! Maybe I was hoping you would accept me. I never had any intentions of trying to become your Luna. You have no idea how much this has been weighing on me, Gracian. It took a lot of courage to say these things to you…” She cried, lowering her head again.

“Look Kahnna, I appreciate you stepping up the way you have these past couple of weeks. If there’s something you want, within reason, I will do it for you. But let me be very f*****g clear, I won’t betray Priya. Think about what you want. When we return from the Naulo Archipelago I’ll make sure to reward you for your efforts.” I said before getting off of the bed.

“Yes, Alpha.” Kahnna said solemnly.

Tonight the moon was high in the sky. I could feel my body heating up in anticipation. I was confident that I would be able to shift now. We would hunt and gather our strength because war was now imminent. The pack stood nude in the depths of the woods. We were spread out at least five feet away from each other. The winter air was calm. I could already smell a boar not far from us. I could almost taste it’s warm flesh between my teeth. I began to shift, my bones extending and crackling. I could feel every strand of fur pushing it’s way through my human skin. I could hear the same process taking place with the others. It only took about thirty seconds, so the pain didn’t last. I could see my breath creating brief humid clouds each time I exhaled. I was the only white wolf with gray paws in the pack. Pressing my massive paws into the snow, I charged forward and the pack followed my lead. Tomorrow, we would be hunting much bigger prey.

At sunrise, our pack headed to the Dawnshire docks. One of our allies had access to commercial boats and was generous enough to lend us a few for the mission. When we were fully boarded, we set out to the Naulo Archipelago.

I sat alone towards the front. I was trying to clear my head of the incident with Kahnna. It was something I never expected from her. This could stay buried, Priya didn’t really need to know. But this would always be between us now. How could I keep something like this from her? There was no way. For now I told Kahnna to keep this to herself. After Priya was safely back with us, only then would we discuss this.

“Hey, Gracian,” Victor said, walking up to me.

“What’s up?”

He handed me a pair of binoculars and I stood up with them. I watched him point NorthWest. I raised the binoculars up to my eyes and looked in that direction. I could see the outline of a series of islands. We were getting close.

“We have about fifteen miles ahead of us. Donovan will send out one drone at a time to get a look around the islands. They’re small enough to be mistaken for birds, so they should be able to give us a decent view of things before being spotted. They might have a natural fortress, but they don’t have turrets and shit.” Victor explained. I nodded.

“That’s comforting. Once we can confirm which island has the main estate, My team will jump ship when we get close to shore. Once we take out any security on shore, I’ll give the signal for the other clans to pull up.” I said.

“Sounds good. We only get one shot at this, so we can’t fail.”

Victor’s statement was a warning. A lot of people were risking their lives for this. Revenge was a solid motivating factor, but at it’s core this was a rescue mission. It was my future Luna that had been taken. The clans could have easily chosen not to help, left us to figure things out alone. I wasn’t going to let them down. Lives were at stake.